Crestview residents have responded to the City Council’s inaction following a fast food restaurant developer’s request for tax relief.

The result among our readers is clear: Crestview wants Krystal back.

Our second most talked about report last week — on the restaurant’s construction being “in jeopardy” — drew often-harsh criticisms directed at anyone threatening the project’s progress.  

However, the topic of who put the project on pause is debatable.

City leaders on April 8 unanimously approved locating the restaurant on State Road 85 across from Dunkin’ Donuts.

Developers then said a 1,700-square-foot eatery — to open before August — would employ some 30 workers on the 1-acre site. Long-term plans included a 3,000-square-foot retail building across the parking lot.

Nevertheless, developers a month later expressed concern about a Florida Department of Transportation mandate that requires the restaurant’s owners to pay for turn lanes to the eatery.

Such infrastructure improvements would exceed the restaurant’s budget by $30,000, a Z Development Services spokesperson said before requesting tax relief.

That’s where the debate comes in.

Some people believe a fast food titan — reportedly worth $175 million, as of its 2012 sale to Atlanta investors — should be able to foot the bill; others say the city should OK the incentive because additional tax revenue eventually would boost city coffers.

That leaves the project in limbo — actually, “in jeopardy,” as developers said.

Remember: John and Joan Crestview didn’t put their savings into the lifelong dream of owning a restaurant franchise. Rather, The Krystal Co. wanted to bring a company-owned restaurant to Crestview and tapped Z Development Services for the job.

City Councilman Shannon Hayes has a point: Krystal probably could afford the extra $30,000.

Then again, cities anticipating additional tax revenue frequently offer businesses incentives.

Let’s hope this stalemate reaches a conclusion — soon — because a vocal majority of residents want more fast-food options.

However, more important is that Crestview could use 30 new jobs.

Email Crestview News Bulletin Editor Thomas Boni, tboni@crestviewbulletin.com, or tweet him @cnbeditor.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: EDITOR'S NOTE: Amid Krystal stalemate, jobs are uncertain

The bystander effect — that people decreasingly help others as the number of passersby increases — entered our lexicon in the 1960s following social psychologists John Darley and Bibb Latané's groundbreaking lab demonstrations.

Their experiments gave way to so-called pluralistic ignorance, when people consider others’ reactions in crises before determining how to proceed or deciding whether it’s important to help someone in need.

But enough jargon. Let’s focus on something we all know about: plain old ignorance.

That, apparently, was on display recently when a passing motorist criticized Crestview girls who just wanted help for their sister, whose sudden seizure scared the family.

Jeremy Fouquet told reporter Brian Hughes that he pumped his daughter Elizabeth’s chest while his other daughters tried to stop motorists on Pearl Street for help.

Sure, several drivers steered past the desperate family and demonstrated the bystander effect, that pluralistic ignorance.

However, one driver veered into plain old ignorant territory, according to witness’ accounts.

“This blonde lady in an SUV stopped and said we were stupid for trying to flag down cars,” Alissa Fouquet, 9, said.

Our readers were shocked when they read that.

They cast shame on the mysterious woman; some expressed hope that she would see the article and realize the gravity of her misjudgment.

After all, someone could have died.

“I don’t see how you can misinterpret a panicked father pumping his baby’s chest,” Eboni Smith wrote on our Facebook page after saying she’d hoped to give the woman the benefit of the doubt.

Blessedly, college students Tahnee Burnette, Carissa Phillips and Lexi Burnette pulled into the Fouquets’ driveway and immediately took father and daughter to North Okaloosa Medical Center.

Their simple, selfless action undoubtedly saved Elizabeth’s life.

Community requires fighting the bystander effect, going with your gut and helping others.

In this case, doing those things saved a life.

Community’s enemy is misunderstanding, ignorance and ridicule.

In this case, these things spelled imminent death.

If you encounter the chance to help, consider the former option.

Email Crestview News Bulletin Editor Thomas Boni, tboni@crestviewbulletin.com, or tweet him @cnbeditor.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: EDITOR'S DESK: Life-threatening matter raises need for community

The clock is ticking on a proposal to raise Okaloosa County’s gas tax.

County commissioners must determine whether to raise the 7-cent-per-gallon tax up 5 cents, its maximum allowance under state law.

Alternatively, they could levy just 1 to 4 additional cents per gallon.

Or forget the whole thing.

Whatever they decide, the board must take action by July 1 so changes can take effect Jan. 1, 2014.

Commissioners last month sent a letter to the county’s municipalities informing them of the proposal. However, some Crestview and Laurel Hill city leaders have expressed concern for what they consider an indistinct idea. Both Crestview Mayor David Cadle and Laurel Hill Councilman Larry Hendren have called the proposal vague. More information is needed before they can render an opinion, they’ve said.

Meanwhile, north county residents otherwise averse to additional taxes may find some value in this one, as gas tax revenue must fund road pavements and repairs.

Road conditions are a hot topic in Laurel Hill, which has passages so poor that many residents believe dissolving the city is their best option. Becoming a county-run unincorporated community could solve a longstanding problem, they believe.

This is a city whose leaders in January waived their compensation to pay off public debts — a selfless and commendable action, indeed, but one that speaks volumes about the city’s prospects for funding sweeping road projects.

The council in March approved $75,000 for work on Sunnyside Avenue, and it’s seeking a $600,000 Community Development Block Grant for considerable assistance.

However, the Sunnyside project is a small piece of a problem that readers regularly debate on our Facebook and homepage. And the CDBG is not guaranteed; Laurel Hill applied for it last year unsuccessfully.

And whether Laurel Hill residents vote in favor of dissolving the city in next year’s referendum remains to be seen.

Still, county commissioners should carefully consider the bigger picture. 

Raising the gas tax may provide revenue for necessary public improvements, but at what cost to private residents? Roaming businesses including pest control workers and plumbers may hike rates to cover the added expense — and then watch the dominoes fall.

A gas tax hike's extra revenue may cover the roads problem, but in this economy with furloughs, layoffs and doing more with less, higher taxes would profoundly affect residents with diminishing contents in their pocketbooks and non-existent savings.

And you can bet those residents will return the favor next election.

Time to tighten the fiscal belt and cut spending, commissioners. Just quiet that clock, and let this idea pass, pronto.

Email Crestview News Bulletin Editor Thomas Boni, tboni@crestviewbulletin.com, or tweet him @cnbeditor.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: EDITOR'S DESK: County should ignore urge to raise gas tax

Garage sales have been on Crestview residents’ minds lately.

Not because last-minute spring cleaning plans include offering trash for others’ treasure, but because city leaders’ consideration of garage sale regulation hits too close to home.

The city reportedly has received complaints about residents who abuse garage sales to the point that their front yards become storefronts.

A prudent government should provide code enforcement officials who can occasionally monitor the concern on weekends, City Councilwoman Robyn Helt has said.

However, most of our readers have expressed concern and outright frustration with the slightest hint of government regulation.

And with the slightest information, as the ordinance should be ready in the next couple of months, city planner Eric Davis has said.

Why focus on speculation?

We know that the city requires occupational licenses for long-term businesses, and it has a sign ordinance.

Code enforcement officials should watch out for homeowners who treat their homes as stores — because they’re not paying license taxes.

Verifying that garage sale signs are four square feet or less and vanish five days after the event upholds community standards, prevents littering and protects quality of life.

Enforcing laws already on the books shouldn’t cause much controversy.

Reasonably limiting the number of garage sales per household per year shouldn’t be an issue, either.

However, concern deepens as government reaches into residents’ pocketbooks. Charging a fee to permit people to do something they’ve always known as free seems to be the tipping point.

Panama City requires a free permit, but limits yard sales to three times per calendar year.

Port St. Lucie charges $5 per yard sale permit. The cost covers advertisement on the city’s website, in its newsletter and on the local cable access channel.

Fair enough.

On the other side is Miami’s $28.50 permit, which would be out of the question here.

We hope Crestview’s leaders will balance the general constituency’s interest while considering how to handle the few repeat offenders.

Email Crestview News Bulletin Editor Thomas Boni, tboni@crestviewbulletin.com, or tweet him @cnbeditor.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: EDITOR'S DESK: Crestview can look to other cities' garage sale laws

Crestview High School students assembling in the football stadium’s bleachers on Friday may not have anticipated the rude awakening they would receive during a mock DUI crash.

When passengers in the drunken driver’s vehicle received minor injuries, and police arrested the driver, the cautionary tale seemed predictable enough: If you break the law, there are consequences.  

But the high school’s leadership program members were presenting a play, and this just showed a worst-case scenario, right?

Not exactly. Granted, students portrayed a casualty, complete with a hearse collecting the body. But eventually, the drama ended and two women delivered a reality check that hit closer to home. Lindy Bowman and Amy Jamieson, north Okaloosa mothers, each recalled the day their children died from DUI-related incidents.

It’s a gritty way to send a message.

It’s also a relatively new way of handling the situation.

Crestview High started the program three years ago, when the responsibility of who would bring the don’t-drink-and-drive message to students was shifting hands.

Not long ago, Mothers Against Drink Driving and Students Against Destructive Decisions, among other advocacy groups, exclusively educated the public about drunken driving’s dangers.

When law enforcement agencies realized that substance abuse prevention was more cost effective than enforcement, they implemented school programs that included victim impact panels, mock crashes and mock trials, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

A little education goes a long way, these agencies figured, and their hypothesis seems accurate if last weekend’s prom is an indication.

Student drunken driving typically peaks during prom and graduation season, when peer pressure is prevalent and parties are rampant, according to the administration.

However, the Florida Highway Patrol, Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office and the Crestview Police Department all said that Crestview’s prom was DUI-free.

That’s beneficial for everyone’s safety and for the economy.

A DUI first conviction brings a $500 to $1,000 fine, along with 50 hours’ community service, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

And that’s only if you hurt no one. Cause an injury or a death, and the penalty could be $10,000, not including attorneys’ fees, insurance premium spikes, medical bills and related charges. And possible jail time.

Let’s commend stepped-up education efforts, and perhaps more important, let’s recognize CHS students’ good conduct. After all, peer pressure got its name for a reason.

Let’s focus on the coming months, particularly a graduation ceremony that will celebrate students’ academic and personal achievements as they reach the end of their high school careers.

And let’s anticipate a similarly uneventful weekend.

Email Crestview News Bulletin Editor Thomas Boni, tboni@crestviewbulletin.com, or tweet him @cnbeditor.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: No Crestview prom DUIs good for students and economy

Monday, the Crestview City Council approved plans for a Krystal restaurant on South Ferdon Boulevard.

The restaurant, which could open by July’s end, would bring 30 jobs, reporter Brian Hughes learned. That might be welcome news to some 20 Beef ’O’ Brady’s employees who were laid off, without notice or severance, for Easter.

But our readers are divided on the issue.

Some see the restaurant’s addition as a sign of things to come: more eateries and greater variety. Some oppose the decision and echo a familiar refrain: Crestview has too much fast food, and what about something healthier?

Others noted that residents have no real say on which restaurants come to Crestview and which don’t. Businesses want to come here or they don’t; the city council’s approval is a formality.

However, we can choose which establishments to patronize.

Ideally, that decision would factor in the business’ ethics as much as it would the customer’s taste buds. That means deconstructing the company’s products, along with the causes it supports, and drawing conclusions.

Let’s start with a glossary.

Fans often speak of a Krystal run, or leaving your present location to buy more fast food and replenish the supply.

The chain offers specials that include multiple burgers, often called a Krystal sack. One special offers 12 Chiks for $12. A past promotion included five burgers, a side and a drink for $5.

We Americans aren’t exactly known for our patience; we want it our way, right away. (Forgive the near descent to another fast food chain’s slogan.) It’s plausible that people eat this many burgers in one sitting. A meal’s a meal.

Though the chain’s 2.5-inch square burgers are a fraction of the size of most fast food burgers, eating five or 12 of any item, even spread over three meals, is troubling, especially with Okaloosa County’s obesity problem.

The Florida Department of Health in Okaloosa County recently received the fourth annual County Health Rankings and Roadmaps data, and the results raise concern.

Obesity in adults has risen 6 percent over the past four years, according to the department, which has a Community Health Improvement Plan that addresses local physical activity and nutrition resources.

However, Okaloosans striving to stay the course would do well to avoid fast food, particularly the Hub City’s latest addition, which seemingly celebrates the polar opposite of healthy living.

The Krystal Company’s World Hamburger Eating Championship has celebrated extreme gluttony; one man devoured more than 103 square burgers in eight minutes, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Moreover, many people annually vie to beat his record in this competition.

Meanwhile, doctors warn of overeating’s potential dangers, including stomach perforation and stomach paralysis. People in different contests, unrelated to Krystal, have died from choking while binging.

Many people will do anything to receive their 15 minutes of fame. Sometimes, that means taking serious health risks.

Many companies will do anything to generate buzz for their product. Often, that means sacrificing a few for the greater good.

And too many people cheer for such simple-minded entertainment.

The masses miss the lack of corporate responsibility and poor optics from supporting gluttony during widespread world hunger. Instead, they prop potential, preventable health problems while cheering contestants who stretch the stomach beyond capacity.

These larger concerns typically don’t trickle down to local franchise owners, who may be your neighbors and work hard to earn an honest living and provide for others in the community.

Nevertheless, this is what the parent company has stood for: paying $5,000, according to PRNewswire, to the so-called athlete who takes home the top overeating prize — along with untold digestive problems — in a competition that’s cheap amusement for the elite.

Krystal’s coming, so more jobs are coming. These things are certain.

The only question is, do you want to support it?

Email Crestview News Bulletin Editor Thomas Boni, tboni@crestviewbulletin.com, or tweet him @cnbeditor.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: EDITOR'S DESK: Deconstructing Krystal’s Crestview purpose

Monday night, Crestview welcomed three men to join Robyn Helt and Thomas Gordon on the council chamber’s dais where important decisions are made.

Joe Blocker, Shannon Hayes and Mickey Rytman took their Oath of Office among friends, family, current and past city officials and concerned residents.  

Blocker has more than 50 years’ experience as a commercial construction project manager, and has worked with city, county, state and federal officials.

Hayes has more than 30 years’ experience as a retail manager, and the financial, business, personnel management and customer service skills to go along with it.

Rytman, a building/fire inspector, has chaired the city’s Local Planning Agency, has served on the Community Redevelopment Agency Grants Review Board and is a member and past president of the Main Street Crestview Association.

All three men are Crestview natives; have extensive civic interest and involvement in their communities; and have earned their constituents’ respect. 

We wish them well, but issue a reminder: as political pressures set in, always keep Crestview residents’ best interest at the forefront.

Though just 10.5 percent of residents voted in the municipal election, the other 89.5 percent would be sorry if their city leaders acted otherwise.

And for that reason, we’ll be watching.

Contact News Bulletin Editor Thomas Boni at 682-6524 or tboni@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbeditor.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: EDITOR'S DESK: Anticipating Crestview’s new leadership

An announcement in the Crestview Area Chamber of Commerce’s Focus newsletter for the Hacker’s Holiday tournament might have gone unnoticed if one resident hadn’t brought the matter to the news media.

The event is May 25 at Blackstone Golf Course in Mossy Head. Kim Sulipeck, a Foxwood Country Club golfer, expressed concern for the Hub City business advocate’s decision to schedule a fundraiser — which reportedly nets approximately $6,000 annually — outside Okaloosa County, let alone Crestview.

Though she says she doesn’t represent the Crestview golf course, she has been vocal in her message. She contended the booking counters the chamber’s mission statement to help Crestview area businesses; it gives the city a “black eye,” she said in a recent report. (See “City’s ‘black eye’ is ‘much ado about nothing,’” March 23 News Bulletin.)

County Commissioner Wayne Harris, the chamber’s executive director, told the News Bulletin that the criticism was “much ado about nothing.”

The mission statement, as the chamber stated to us directly, reads as follows: “We are the premier business advocate in the Crestview are(a) community, providing membership services and proactive leadership to promote responsible economic development, business success, and a high quality of life.”

Harris indicated that the “Crestview area community” reference leaves room for interpretation.

Further, Foxwood has hosted 13 tournaments in the past 13 years, so it’s “unreasonable and unfair to expect all golf outings to be held at only one member golf course,” Harris said.

But what if that one member golf course is the lone Crestview, nay, Okaloosa member golf course? That seems to be the case.

Pensacola and Alabama businesses may have joined the chamber, but does that mean that, say, Rock Creek golf course in Fairhope, Ala., should be the next consideration, if it were a member? That’s nearly two hours away.

Businesses outside Crestview, Okaloosa County and even Florida state lines may join the chamber to appear in the members directory and enjoy numerous networking opportunities, but facts are facts. When people shop locally — within Crestview city limits — the city prospers. Dollars stay local, which benefits the community’s nonprofits and infrastructure, creates jobs and improves quality of life.

All things being equal, is it demonstrably beneficial for the Crestview chamber — regardless of the mission statement’s supposed elasticity — to support any business outside Crestview, let alone Okaloosa County?

Does the gain really outweigh the symbolic risk — especially when business flowing into Walton County might not be reciprocated?

B.J. Thomhave, Foxwood’s office manager, takes it all in stride. He has mixed emotions about the Walton County arrangement, but “it’s a free country” and it’s the chamber’s decision to make, he told reporter Matthew Brown.

It’s a free country, all right, in the land of opportunity. But doing business in Crestview and living here are not free.

That’s why the chamber should stick with Foxwood, even if it is the only member golf course in Crestview.

Alternatively, program something different from a golf tournament to help other Crestview businesses.

Contact News Bulletin Editor Thomas Boni at 682-6524 or tboni@crestviewbulletin.com. Follow him on Twitter @cnbeditor.

This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: EDITOR'S DESK: Chamber’s Walton County affair raises concerns